Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives 2019 Jeep Rubicon 4dr

We are looking at buying a used one which will be our spare car. Not an every day driver. It has a tow bar already installed with the necessary wiring so that is a plus when we want to pull it behind our RV flat towing. This will be more of a spare and take to places we can drive the trails. Our latest trip to Moab and Tikkanut has really motivated us.

Anyone with experience for this model Jeep and any recommendations for what to look out for?

The JL are really pretty solid, so you should be good to go.

Does it have the V6 or the Turbo 4?

Are you wanting to do some upgrades, or leave it stock?

Yes, Jeeping can get addictive.
Our first CJ5 that we used on many trails...

This was my 2012 JK Rubicon.
When I purchase it in 2017 (not me in the Jeep, mechanic friend)

After some upgrades


My current project, 1969 CJ6
current status

When I purchased it.

Pulled in the shop and sitting nose to nose with my 71 CJ5 (sold)

How good are those CJ fiberglass bodies?

Long Bob, I have had 3 , 12, 13, and 14, all were 3.6 motor, never got stuck, we took 14 to Colorado on trails and didn’t have any problems, pulled my ultra classic on Harley trailer, and my trike on same trailer w/o any problems, but trailer is aluminum, this 3.6 v-6 motor is what Jeep is double turbo and putting in a lot of there stuff now, it’s been around since 2012.

Thanks for the replies and pics. They are great! I love seeing other rigs and how they are set up especially over the years.

It has the V6. I would have been fine with the 4 cylinder turbo. The only engine I did not want was the diesel. Not that it isn't a excellent engine, but I prefer gas engines especially if I am in colder areas when we are out in the boonies. My daily driver is a Ram 2500 Cummins and my wife's car is a BMW X5 35d (diesel). They are great for our purposes. Heck, everything I have is diesel now that I think about it except for my race cars and this Jeep. We have a diesel RV and Ram 3500 Cummins also. Not to mention two diesel Onan generators.

I will most likely keep it pretty stock except for bigger wheels/tires at a later date. Not sure if I will put a winch on it, but it already has the proper bumper to drop one in. Most likely I would get one of the Harbor Freight winches with the synthetic rope. Be nice to have if needed, but also wouldn't feel so bad that I don't have much invested if I never had to use it.

I have been told that the 3.6 L V6 Pentastar engine has a pretty serious design flaw. The plastic oil filter/oil cooler housing is prone to fail and the design allows all of the top end oil to drain back into the pan overnight, so the whole top of the engine is oil starved during every morning start. There is at least one, probably more, after-market aluminum units that are less prone to fail and are designed to keep some oil in the filter and cooler that is immediately available to the top of the engine.

I was going to buy a Grand Cherokee with the 3.6, but my mechanic told me about this design flaw and advised against buying any Chrysler product with that engine. Of course, he could be wrong and the after-market units might be a solution to a problem that doesn't exist, but is it worth the risk on a used engine that already has thousands of morning starts behind it? It wasn't for me.

Dorman has an all aluminum housing replacement that isn't that difficult to swap out if it is an issue. I am very mechanically inclined so take that in consideration with my comment it isn't that difficult.

Installing the replacement oil filter housing wasn't the key factor in my decision to punt on the purchase of that vehicle, it was the thousands of oil starved starts that the engine had already had on it. I never worried about the engines failing in any of the 4.0, 4.7, 5.2. or 5.9 Jeep Cherokees and Grand Cherokees that we've owned, but I did worry about the potential for failure of the 3.6. The 4.0 straight 6 was a great engine as long as you did the routine/scheduled maintenance.

My 2014 had a lot of add on’s , 4” lift with big tires and wheels, the jeep is just like the Rams lifted, I have Power Wagon and a Diesel , big tires, good old death wobble . I would definitely research and talk to good Jeep shops about who makes best lifts, mine was Rough Country, POS , save your tires and going to shops having rotations and balance all the time, I wouldn’t go over 2-1/2” lift. I had everything you can put on one, even duels 😁, enjoy, almost as free filling as a Harley.

Maybe so, but there don't seem to be too many reports of engine failures on them due to lacking an anti drainback system. There seem to be more reports of the housing leaking and that is somewhat limited. I am not too worried about it, but thanks for your comments.

I wasn't thinking about lifting ours and limiting the tire size to 35" if possible with the stock suspension. I appreciate the heads up if we end up needing to lift it a little.

In my opinion they suck.

Nothing I have is fiberglass.

What is your gearing? It is probably 4.10 and it will run 35's fairly well, but I would rather be at 4.88.

I would do a 2 1/2 to 3 " lift. Icon and Tera Flex are excellent choices.

Yes, it is the stock 4.10 gearing. I will look into those also if it looks like we will need to lift it. We are flying down to Houston to pick it up on Saturday.

Forewarned is forearmed, but you have more faith in this engine than I do and it is your money to spend anyway you want to spend it.

The leaking plastic oil filter/cooler housing is probably the most common complaint about the 3.6 engine, there are so many comments about this issue on the 'net that if you look you can't miss them. If I just had to have a vehicle with this engine, about the first thing that I'd do is install one of the after-market aluminum units that is less likely to leak and has the anti-drainback feature. My Wife really wanted that Jeep Grand Cherokee, but the dealer wasn't willing to adjust the price to reflect the upgrades that I felt needed to be done to improve the engine's life expectancy.

Good luck.

My 17 Ram developed the oil cooler leak at 77,000 miles. I had to have it replaced with the aluminum body Dorman model.

Whoever thought to save $15 a vehicle by putting a plastic housing on top of a hot engine should have his pee pee slapped. Mine developed a leak when the housing warped and blew one of about 10 little o-rings. Mine leaked down the rear of the engine.

Another disadvantage of this is the oil filter cap is commonly screwed on too tight and cracks the neck of the oil filter portion of the cooler. You have to remove the plastic intake to get to the oil cooler assy. ( Note: might as well change the plugs on that side as you have to remove manifold to c/o Dr/s plugs anyway.

I have this v6 and a hemi also. Despite these weaknesses, for daily around town, no hauling driving, the v-6 is easier and more responsive to drive. I like the v-6 but there are a couple of watch outs. Just be prepared.